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 Spyder
      
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
 |  | Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
< on 4/17/2007 5:23 PM >
|  | | | Bizarre start to Sinclair trial
Samantha Craggs
Local News - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 @ 10:00
Bakelite property owner Jim Sinclair defended himself in the first day of a unique and occasionally bizarre trial on a slew of environmental charges.
Sinclair represented himself in court Monday arguing against charges laid by Quinte Conservation and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in a day that included broken eyeglasses, debate over a search warrant and what Sinclair described as a lunch-hour "high-speed chase through Belleville."
Quinte Conservation has charged the developer and owner of the Dundas Street East property of filling a floodplain, destroying a wetland, altering a watercourse and grading, placing or dumping fill on regulated lands. The DFO, meanwhile, has charged Sinclair with three counts of harmfully altering or destroying fish habitat.
After the lunch break, Sinclair told Judge Geoff Griffin the trial should be delayed because he went back to the property for lunch and said an environmental official and Crown witness had entered it illegally.
"I saw a white government of Ontario van coming out of my site and heading back into town," he said. "What kind of sneaky little s**t would do that, knowing I'm in court?"
Sinclair said he chased the vehicle and identified the driver. "That brings this whole proceeding into question."
Griffin assured Sinclair that if any malfeasance is discovered, "it will be granted to you."
The day began with a closed-door meeting between Judge Stephen Hunter, Sinclair and the lawyers for Quinte Conservation and DFO in the hopes a deal could be brokered.
After a short break, the trial proceeded before Griffin with Sinclair having few files and making notes on the back of a magazine envelope. When asked about his experience, Sinclair told Griffin he had been in court three times and had also "seen it on TV. I'm participating ill-equipped."
Paul McCoy, Quinte Conservation's manager of development and planning, testified he was first alerted to the site in late August 2005 when a phone call from a neighbouring property owner said there was ditching being done on the contaminated property.
McCoy arrived at the site with Doug Graham from the Ministry of Environment. He was told he was welcome on the site but Graham was not, then Sinclair "threatened Mr. Graham with a front-end loader," McCoy testified.
McCoy presented numerous photos taken from different vantage points during three visits to the 90-acre property, showing piles of organic material, altered wetlands and a strip of land he called a road.
Despite his inexperience, Sinclair did a lengthy cross-examination, questioning McCoy's interpretation of what he saw, and what problems had existed prior to Sinclair buying the property. He did not threaten Graham with a front-end loader, Sinclair insisted, and the piles of debris should be referred to as peat. What McCoy described as a road is actually a berm, he said.
Sinclair questioned the validity of the initial search warrant used by McCoy because it did not have a lot and concession number identifying the property. Griffin ruled that the street address was enough. A 15-minute break was also required in the afternoon when Sinclair's glasses broke and had to be fixed.
Local architect and photographer Bill White testified late in the day with three aerial photographs he took last year.
David DeMille is counsel for Quinte Conservation, while Alex Ikejiani and Robert Zsigo are representing DFO.
The charges, Sinclair said, are a result of harassment from environmental officials.
"If I say they're out to get me, it's not an improper statement," he said. "It's a fair statement."
The trial continues today.
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 1 on 4/18/2007 2:45 PM >
| | | | Today's court drama
After 30 years of environmental service, Doug Howell told court Tuesday he couldn’t see the drawings on the wall of Jim Sinclair’s work trailer and not act.
Howell, a former Ministry of Natural Resources employee turned environmental consultant, was called to the Bakelite property to interpret a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) order in January 2006. The order dictated that Sinclair move piles of contaminated soil to the upper portion of his property and put a filter around it so contaminants would not run off into the bay.
Howell, the sole proprietor of Stringer’s Environmental Service in Madoc, admitted to Sinclair that he agreed with the order. When he told Sinclair that he planned to put that in his report, Sinclair said “then don’t write the report,” Howell testified Tuesday.
He also noticed plans on the wall of Sinclair’s trailer that showed how the developer planned to fill in a water lot that exceeded his property boundaries.
In essence, he planned to fill in portions of the Bay of Quinte to create land. It bothered Howell so much that he spoke to a conservation officer about it.
“I found that they were already well aware of the property,” he said.
Howell was called as the DFO’s first witness Tuesday, the second day of the trial. Sinclair is defending himself against a slew of environmental charges related to his work at the Dundas Street East property. Quinte Conservation has charged him with filling a floodplain, destroying a wetland, altering a watercourse and grading, placing or dumping fill on regulated lands. DFO has charged him with three counts of harmfully altering or destroying fish habitat.
During cross examination, Sinclair said he had a moral issue with Howell testifying, considering he had been indirectly doing work for Sinclair. But Howell was testifying under subpoena, said DFO lawyer Alex Ikejiani, and would be arrested if he failed to appear.
The filter — called a rock-fill check dam — dominated much of the testimony Tuesday morning. Bryon Keene, Quinte Conservation water resources engineer, testified that a DFO biologist asked him to design one in late 2005. Site visits showed that water, confirmed to be contaminated with PCBs, had been running into the Bay of Quinte, Keene said.
He also noticed active erosion, and that much of the wetlands, which act as a natural filter for contaminants, had been dug up and piled around the property, he said.
“It was a provincially significant wetland and a natural filter for any sediment running off,” he said. “With that vegetation removed, the protection to the bay is gone.”
Sinclair said he has created his own filter in the form of a rock berm that extends into the Bay of Quinte and also insisted he hasn’t altered the shoreline.
“The shoreline is where the shoreline was and it hasn’t changed, and he’s saying something else,” he said.
Jake Barkley, a DFO fishery officer, testified that he went to the site in May 2006, where he and other DFO employees used a sein net to catch fish along the shoreline of the Bakelite site.
They caught three minnows.
Sinclair denied several times that he intended to fill in the water lot off the propety’s shoreline. He also invited Paul McCoy, Quinte Conservation’s manager of development and planning, and general manager Terry Murphy to dinner at “a nice place” last year to discuss an amicable solution. That invitation was not accepted, he said.
The trial continues today with Judge Geoff Griffin.
Today’s testimony is expected to focus on fish habitat.
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mortimer
Location: teronno
| |  | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 2 on 4/18/2007 7:47 PM >
| | | | Thanks for the updates. It's really quite impressive reading what appears to be the play-by-play of Sinclair earning a free ride to the nut hatch. I wish I could be there watching this trial in person, it's so rare that court cases are this entertaining.
Side note, anyone been by the property lately? Is anything left standing?
yep. |
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bandi
 
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| |  | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 3 on 4/19/2007 2:33 AM >
| | | | Completely gone, except for a garage.
hi i like cars |
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Squidgit
Location: Brighton Ontario
Gender: Female
There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 4 on 4/19/2007 11:56 AM >
| | | | Posted by mortimer
Side note, anyone been by the property lately? Is anything left standing?
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yeah it's totally gone, I went by last week. Depressing really
The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration. |
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mortimer
Location: teronno
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 5 on 4/19/2007 2:13 PM >
| | | | Too bad. At least I got to go there once before it was all gone.
yep. |
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bandi
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 6 on 4/20/2007 2:27 AM >
| | | | It is a shame... i mean, the place was definitely an eyesore, but so awesome to explore. It was my first non-house exploration, 3 years ago! (Maybe it was 4....)
I think it's been down since just before christmas.
[last edit 4/20/2007 2:33 AM by bandi - edited 1 times]
hi i like cars |
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johnnyluv
Location: Mississauga
Gender: Male
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 7 on 5/2/2007 6:21 PM >
| | | | Spyder,
Any info on the site? Im loving your updates, i use to live in Belleville for 4 years and very interested.
Thanks
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ahsun
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 8 on 5/4/2007 5:03 PM >
| | | | lol, what an asshole.
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 9 on 6/1/2007 2:45 PM >
| | | | He just keeps getting in deeper and deeper shit!!!! LOL
Sinclair case deferred
Local News - Friday, June 01, 2007 @ 10:00
The developer of the former Bakelite property will appear in criminal court June 21 to answer charges of dangerous driving, causing a disturbance and breach of probation.
The Jim Sinclair case made a brief appearance in the Ontario Court of Justice Thursday, where it was deferred to next month at the request of Sinclair's lawyer, Peter Girard of Belleville.
Neither Sinclair nor Girard were present for the appearance.
The charges date back to an April 16 incident with a Ministry of Environment employee near the Dundas Street East property. Sinclair's trial facing environmental charges from Quinte Conservation and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans also began that day.
When the trial reconvened after lunch, Sinclair told the judge that he had spotted a Ministry of Environment employee illegally trespassing on his property, and that he chased the culprit to find out his identity.
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mortimer
Location: teronno
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 10 on 6/1/2007 5:53 PM >
| | | | I hope the CBC makes a really bad tv movie out of this. Keep 'em coming, I'm enjoying the saga.
yep. |
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 11 on 7/12/2007 3:17 PM >
| | | | The environmental trial for Bakelite owner Jim Sinclair has been delayed again, this time until August or October. Sinclair was scheduled to call his defence witnesses Wednesday in a trial where he is representing himself against charges from Quinte Conservation and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
But Sinclair had a death in the family the day before and was unable to appear.
The charges are related to work Sinclair did at the Dundas Street East waterfront property. Quinte Conservation has charged him with filling a floodplain, destroying a wetland, altering a watercourse and grading, placing or dumping fill on regulated lands. DFO has charged him with three counts of harmfully altering or destroying fish habitat.
Sinclair and lawyers for Quinte Conservation and DFO will meet with Judge Geoff Griffin July 20 to set a date, which is likely to be late August or early October. It will be the final day of a trial that ran for a week in April.
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| |  | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 12 on 7/12/2007 3:38 PM >
| | | | Is that it? Hell, I've done worse than that after a bad dinner of Mexican food.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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johnnyluv
Location: Mississauga
Gender: Male
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 13 on 7/13/2007 11:14 AM >
| | | | Posted by Spyder
The environmental trial for Bakelite owner Jim Sinclair has been delayed again, this time until August or October. Sinclair was scheduled to call his defence witnesses Wednesday in a trial where he is representing himself against charges from Quinte Conservation and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
But Sinclair had a death in the family the day before and was unable to appear.
The charges are related to work Sinclair did at the Dundas Street East waterfront property. Quinte Conservation has charged him with filling a floodplain, destroying a wetland, altering a watercourse and grading, placing or dumping fill on regulated lands. DFO has charged him with three counts of harmfully altering or destroying fish habitat.
Sinclair and lawyers for Quinte Conservation and DFO will meet with Judge Geoff Griffin July 20 to set a date, which is likely to be late August or early October. It will be the final day of a trial that ran for a week in April.
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Thanks for the constant updates spyder
Im very familiar with those involved from my time in journalism up there and love reading this.
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 14 on 10/16/2007 2:54 PM >
| | | | Sinclair defends self against environmental charges
Posted By Jeremy Ashley
Posted 47 mins ago
The developer of the former Bakelite property is once again before the courts, addressing the latest in a litany of charges he faces after demolishing the old resins factory.
A number of environmental charges are before the court and James "Jim" Sinclair began addressing them as his own lawyer Monday in Belleville's Ontario Court of Justice.
As with previous court appearances on criminal charges and citations for violation of provincial statutes, Sinclair's latest foray into the courts began with many of the antics seen during his previous dealings with the legal system here.
Sinclair is representing himself on 15 charges laid by Ministry of Environment officers, the majority of which are for allegedly disobeying orders to halt excavation on his 90-acre Dundas Street East property. Two of the charges, which are considered most serious, are for allowing contaminants - such as PCBs - to seep into the Bay of Quinte.
This is the second trial for alleged environmental infractions for Sinclair. Earlier this month a similar trial wrapped up on several other environmental charges - from filling a floodplain to destroying a wetland - on charges laid by officers from Quinte Conservation and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. A decision on that trial is expected on Nov. 30.
Meanwhile, he is also scheduled to make an appearance next month on criminal charges which were laid after an alleged car chase through the east end of the city earlier this year involving staff from the Ministry of Environment.
Monday the proceedings began in the same fits-and-starts manner as the other appearances for Sinclair, 66.
As Crown attorney Jerry Herlihy began questioning the first witness of the day, Ministry of Environment officer Jim Martherus, Sinclair complained he couldn't follow along because he didn't have any of the documents the Crown was referring to.
"You were given all of this through disclosure," Herlihy replied, shaking his head. "This may be a reoccurring theme - I should address it now.
"When I came in here today, I was lugging three banker boxes of material," Herlihy said, adding Sinclair appeared to have only brought a clipboard of paper, pen and a small box of materials.
Herlihy said during pretrial discussions, Sinclair acknowledged he had received full disclosure of the evidence against him, "but didn't have time to read it all."
Sinclair rose to his feet to say he assumed the materials "would have been provided for me," during the course of the trial, noting the Crown attorney "provided a mountain of material ... I have 11 banker's boxes of materials for lots of trials."
The discussion between the two continued even after Justice of the Peace John Doran ordered a one-hour break to allow Sinclair a chance to retrieve his documents.
"You know, I bought a 40-foot container to store all your junk in?" Sinclair said to the Crown with a chuckle during the break.
During Monday's trial Sinclair maintained his quirky, iconoclastic style in the courts, bedecked as he was in grey flannel suit, white shirt, red tie and black dress shoes - without socks.
After the recess, officer Martherus chronicled the history of the Bakelite property while on the stand, which included several studies that concluded the site contained PCBs in or near marshlands.
He also recalled an encounter with Sinclair at the property in late November 2005, the first of several visits which culminated in a provincial officer's order to halt any excavation on the site.
While speaking to Sinclair about potential environmental damage that could be caused by excavation at the property, Martherus said Sinclair presented a one-page remedial action plan he had gleaned from the Internet involving the use of "chicken manure" to absorb the hazardous chemicals.
During the course of the conversation, Martherus said Sinclair was "derogatory toward ministry staff ... (and) seemed reluctant to understand" the implications of not following ministry guidelines. Martherus described the extensive excavation at the site he observed during his inspection, stating "it appeared as though the marshland material had been scrapped up into piles," and heaped onto the banks of the Bay of Quinte.
In addition, there were several man-made drainage ditches leading directly into the waterway, Martherus recalled while scrolling through pictures of the site.
"PCBs are a persistent contaminant," he said, which could pose an extensive, long-term health risk if the chemical compounds enter the food chain via the Bay of Quinte.
The trial is expected to continue through next week.
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bandi
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 15 on 10/17/2007 1:31 AM >
| | | | It's like a bad John Grisham novel...
hi i like cars |
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Silent Knight
Location: Niagara region
Gender: Male
Kastle Archives Productions Inc. (since 1999)
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 16 on 10/24/2007 2:20 PM >
| | | | The epitome of having a fool for a client.
Like a few others in this thread, I'm glad I took the opportunity to explore Bakelite a few years ago when it was still relatively intact. The pics are still among my favorite of all the places I've photographed.
Thanks to everyone for postin' updates on that nutbar Sinclair.
You can always tell when you're watching Canadian television - the actors in the show are the same ones doing the commercials. |
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 17 on 10/25/2007 3:14 PM >
| | | | Sinclair's star witness questioned on sampling practises
Posted By W. Brice McVicar
Posted 1 hour ago
A consultant hired by Jim Sinclair testified he sent only three water and soil samples to a laboratory for contamination analysis after the owner of the former Bakelite property wouldn't pay for any others.
Ron Carter of Quinte Eco Consultants Inc. was the first witness called by Sinclair in a trial in which he faces 15 charges laid by Ministry of Environment officers, the majority of which are for allegedly disobeying orders to halt excavation on his 90-acre property. Two of the charges, which are considered most serious, are for allowing contaminants - such as PCBs - to seep into the Bay of Quinte.
Sinclair, the owner of the Dundas Street East property, has been representing himself on a number of offences laid after the demolition and purported excavation of the property around the old resins factory.
Crown attorney Jerry Herlihy asked Carter why only three samples were sent for tests after both he and representatives from the MOE collected sediment, soil and ground water samples from a variety of locations on the property.
"I would have liked to have submitted them all but Jim didn't want to send any away," Carter said, adding the man who hired him would only pay for a small number of the samples to be tested.
Herlihy spent the majority of his cross-examination questioning Carter's protocol when collecting samples.
Carter said his sampling practices mirror those of the MOE.
But after more questioning Carter admitted the bottles he gathered samples in only had their tops tightened and not "sealed." He added he did not see the ministry officials seal theirs either.
Herlihy also questioned why Carter's employee at the scene was not keeping a record in his notebook of where the samples were taken, something the MOE did do.
"My speculation is that they gave (my employee) the sheet and he's written on it," Carter said explaining the ministry told him they would keep track of where samples came from and provide him with a copy.
Carter said there was no opportunity for the samples sent for testing to become "compromised," despite not bearing a safety seals. Herlihy, however, pointed out that Carter also testified those samples were kept at his office, some for nearly two weeks. Carter had said the samples were kept in a locked refrigerator in his office which approximately eight of his employees have a key to.
Herlihy also asked Carter about his conviction of providing false information to the MOE more than 25 years ago.
At the time, Carter was working for the parent company of Bakelite. Carter told Herlihy his past was "totally irrelevant. You're talking about something from 30 years ago that I have no recollection of."
Cross-examining Carter, Sinclair tried to defend his witness' credibility by pointing out he has previous municipal political experience, works with the Masons and even presented a letter from MP Daryl Kramp written to Carter referring to his "highest state of morality."
The trial continues Thursday and Friday.
[last edit 10/26/2007 2:41 PM by Spyder - edited 1 times]
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bandi
Lippy Mechanic Bastard
Location: Trent Hills, ON
Gender: Male
A liminal mind is all I've ever known.
| | | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 18 on 10/25/2007 8:33 PM >
| | | | Da Da Daaaaaa... and the plot thickens...
hi i like cars |
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Spyder
Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Holy Fuck!!! There's a tree frog in the toilet!
| | Re: Belleville Bakelite Owner is F**ken nuts!
<Reply # 19 on 11/8/2007 3:57 PM >
| | | | Sinclair committed to stand trial
Posted 1 hour ago
The owner of the former Bakelite site in the city's east end will stand trial on three criminal charges next year.
James "Jim" Sinclair, 66, was charged on April 16 with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, causing a disturbance and failing to comply with probation conditions after an alleged car chase through the east end of the city involving staff from the Ministry of Environment.
Following a pretrial into the case - which is a closed-door process in which a judge, the defence and Crown discuss the merits of the indictment - the case was set for trial on Mar. 8 before the Ontario Court of Justice.
The alleged incident occurred while Sinclair, who owns the property of the former resins factory on Dundas Street East, was on a lunch break during a trial into environmental charges.
A decision on that trial is scheduled on Nov. 30.
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